This Was Television On December 27

1947: Howdy Doody is on the air

The world’s most famous marionette and his puppeteer, Buffalo Bob Smith, made their TV debut on NBC’s Puppet Playhouse. The character was an immediate sensation, and Puppet Playhouse evolved into The Howdy Doody Show, which ran until 1960. The children’s show was one of the first to be regularly broadcast in color, beginning in 1955. -A.D.